I'm running into an issue where the failback option in multipath.conf is

being ignored. I've tried to set this to a value > 0 to cause dm to

pause before reinstating a recovered path, but it reinstates the path

immediately. The same is true when setting the value to "manual", the

path is reinstated immediately. The delay is most useful when a ethernet

switch has failed or rebooted. During the boot of the switch, the

interface comes up and drops again multiple times. I'd love to be able

to introduce a delay before DM marks the path as reinstated after a

recovery. This would save me the hassle of running into I/O errors (and

occasional filesystem RO) as the path bounces while the switch is booting.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!

-Eli

I've included my multipath.conf as well as output from multipath -ll below:

multipath.conf:

blacklist {

devnode "sda$"

# devnode "*"

}

## By default, devices with vendor = "IBM" and product = "S/390.*" are

## blacklisted. To enable mulitpathing on these devies, uncomment the

## following lines.

#blacklist_exceptions {

# device {

# vendor "IBM"

# product "S/390.*"

# }

#}

## Use user friendly names, instead of using WWIDs as names.

defaults {

user_friendly_names yes

}

##

## Here is an example of how to configure some standard options.

##

#

defaults {

udev_dir /dev

polling_interval 10

selector "round-robin 0"

path_grouping_policy multibus

getuid_callout "/sbin/scsi_id -g -u -s /block/%n"

prio_callout /bin/true

path_checker readsector0

rr_min_io 10

rr_weight priorities

failback 120

features "1 queue_if_no_path"

no_path_retry 1

user_friendly_name yes

}

It looks like you have two defaults {} sections. Is that allowed? Maybe multipath is only picking up the first one? I'd remove the first one/comment out and put user_friendly_names yes in the second one.

Also I think multipath -v3 -d will show you what settings would be applied so you don't have to test the behavior by cycling your ethernet switch.